Coupling head



July 10, 1923;

W. L. READ COUPLING HEAD Filed April 16. 1921 MLIQIIZ/ Patented'July 10, 1923.

WILLIAM L. READ, or c IcAGo/nLrNoIs; esslenoa or ONE-HALF To cnnnnnsir f' k READ, or cnreneo, rumors.

ooUr INe HEAD.

Application filed April 16, 1921. Serial No. 461,835.

To all whom it may, concern: a

Be it known that I, WILLIAMQLL g at Chl- State of citizen of the United States,- residin cago, in thecounty of Cook and RE a Il]inois,-have invented newand useful' lmthe following is a-specification,

'provements in Coupling -Heads,sof which This invention relates to coupling heads for use in connecting train-line,

irba steam-lines, and theelike, and aims to-improve the construction and method ,offmamr facture of coupling hejadsgof this general character.- I

IIn appli'cation,- Serial No. 423,345, filed November 11, 1920,11here1is-disclosed a coupling head in which a ring of nonc orrodible meta-lis anchoredin vthe face of the gasket seat and surrounded-both inwardly wardly :by the metal of-thebody of In thatinstance, the r'ing ofnon-c v 7 metal is relatively narrow; and both the inner andouter portions. of; the gasket sejatfon both sides of the ring are formed metalof the body. itself. v

My present invention aims to gasket seat; in which a face of non-c ,1 metal is presented which extends o and out- A the head. orrodible from the improve orrodible utwardly from the port itself; instead of being spaced therefrom, so that a'wideri expanse of5nonneath the metal ring is obviated.

vide acoupling head-whichcan be which the gasket seat jof non-c L placement from the head is: obviate Further objects and .advantages ofthis v invention should-be readily appre economiciated; as Y the same becomes better understood, by re'ference to the following description, when considered in ,connection with the 52.800111- P y gd w ngs i Figs. 2, 3,. and 5 are fragmentary sectional views "showing successive ste manu-factureof the head; and

ps in the disposed at right angles to' the axis;of;the upon that construction ,'-by.; providing a the,.- overa lldiameter of the ringbeing An expanding 1 tool is. then v-inserted? through the mouth into.thefiring andby A groove 17 so that thering isfirmlyi anchored in this groove, as showng.in Fig;5 L j'A T 1 Fig. '6; is plan View of the gasket seat 35% i yrlngfiwhlch isembodied ,in my' improved couplin s.

Refef'i'ing now to the drawings rnore ini detail, reference charactersfilO and ll indicate generally a pair of mating coupling to 1 heads, and since these, heads are duplicates i' a h r, a detailed description pf o I Wlll suflice for anunderstanding of m inp vention. The body 12 offthe headvisf cas't preferably'of malleable iron, -and cored to,

1 form an airport 13 extending throughjthe head and terminating centrally of an annu- "lar, fiat face let, commonly. termed theFme t. -lngface of thehead.

In .the casting operati n, :the lpbrejptei nates at the meeting face in almouthvlfisiand n i p ve method .afterthehead is cast,-is to; p rovide immediately above this'shoulder' anannular under-cut groove- 17, the plane,-,ofwhich is bore at this point, andthe perimeter ,ofjthe groove ls'undercutj from top to; .-botton1"-to- "form an inclined outer wallvlstjas shown;' .7

uT groove y be e w thla ,cuttin af 1 tool of a well known type,-the' cuttinggopercorrodible; metal-is presented to'the gasket,

and all liability-of leakage around or;be-

ation being common machine shop-practice.

I jAfterz-the head has been provided} with; the U groove;17,' a fiat metal ring of brass or other Another object ofr-my inventionisto pro-' non-corrodible material is inserted througl1 i';; the mouth-l5 and deposited upon the sh ul-Q This ring, indicated by reference-charac- 'ter 19, has-its outer perimeter inclined 01'3" tapered, as indicated at 21;. (Figs. 3andi6) 5 slightly less than the diameter of the port mouth so thatthe ring maybe dropped into it I position on the shoulder 16. v

1.00 manipulation of this expanding ;.tool," the r a ring is expanded into the groove 17 until its" tapered or, inclined outer 7 face snugly- {fin-f gages the .tapered' or undercutfwalLlSlbf the tapered tool is then employed to slightly further expand the ring and ream the cen-:;. I

tral opening therein until the inner edges of the ring are substantially flush with the port opening through the shoulder 16.

The head is then operated upon, or machined by a routing or recess tool, to provide the gasket groove 22 (Fig. 5) immediately above the ring, and finish the upper exposed face of the ring, as indicated at 23, thereby bringing the upper face of the ring flush with the gasket groove 22, so that it forms a smooth and uninterrupted continuation of the a-rcon which the bottom of the groove 'is'formed. The ring therefore, forms on its upper face, a continuation of the groove 22,-

and at its inner edges, a continuationof the port through th'eshoulde'r 16.

A rubber gasket 23, having an annular flange 24, is then seated in the groove 22, the upper face of this gasket being designed to project beyond the meeting face 14 of the head so that when two heads are coupled together, as shown in Fig. 1, these gaskets arecompressed, thereby forming a tight,

leak-proof joint between the meeting ends of-the opposed'gaskets and also forcing each gasket against its seat with the requisite pressure to preclude leakage around the gasket.

It willthus be apparent that I have provided a, coupling head which is equipped with a gasket seat of 'non-corrodible metal encircling and extending radially outwardly from the port through the head sothat leakage around the seat is entirely precluded.

Water, steam, air under pressure, or other -fluids which may pass through or collect in the heads, tend to-cause pitting or corroding of the cast metal which forms the body of the head, but the non-corrodible ring 19, which forms the gasket seat immediately surrounding the bore is not affected by these fluids, and serves therefore, to insure and maintain a smooth, permanent gasket seat which effectually precludes leakage and maintains a tight joint, even after'prolonged usage.

It is believed that acoupling head embodying my invention, its method of manufacture, and many of its inherent advantages will be understood and appreciated from the foregoing without further description, and

it should be manifest that the structural details #of the head disclosed and the method employed in its production, are both capable of considerable variation and modification,

. without departing from the spirit of the in.-

vention, as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. EA coupling head, comprising a body having-a port extending 'therethrough, and a substantially flat ring of non-corrodible material surrounding said port. the-inner diameter of said ring being substantially flush with the walls of said port and the perimeter-of s'aid ring being entirely surbody provided with a port extending therethroug'h, a shoulder surrounding said port and having a peripheral undercut-tapered wall, and a ring of 'non-corrodible :metal seated on said shoulder-andhaving a tapered perimeter anchored in and circumferentially surrounded by said undercut wall, the 11pper face of said ring being inclined from the outer to the inner edges thereof and wholly exposed from edge to edge, and the inner edges being substantially flush with the Walls of said "port.

4. A coupling head, comprising a metal body provided with a port extending there-v through surrounded'by an annular shoulder, and a ring of non-corrodible-meta'l seated on said shoulder with its inner edge flush.

with said port and surrounded by and anchored'at its perimeter in'the'metal iof the body to provide a gasket 'se'at, the upper face of said ring being wholly exposedfand inclined from edge toedge.

;5. The method of m'a-king coupling heads, which con's1sts in'tormi-ng an annular "groove in the body of the head at-right angles to the axis of the bore extending therethro-ugh,

expanding a ring of no'n-co'rrodible "-metal into saidgroove t'oanchor said rin therein and dispose its inner edges substantially .flush with the walls of said bore, providing an annular gasket groove above said ring,

and finishing the exposed face of saidring to provide a gasket seat.

6 The method of makingcoupling' heads, which consists' in forming a horizontally opening groove in the "body ofthe headremote' from the mouth .iof the port therethrough, i'ntroducing "a ring o'f "non 'c'orrodible met'al through said-mouth into alignmentwith said. groove, -fexpanding'said ring nto said groove to anchor the same there- 1n, and finishing the exposed surfacefof said ring to provide a gasket seat.

7 The method of making 'coupling'heads, which consists-in forming a metal body;provided with a port =extending'therethrough and surroundedby an annular"shoulder, producing an annular groove-in 'said body immediately "above the shoulder, inserting a ring of non-ccrrodible material through the mouth of said port into alignment --with said groove, expanding said ring into-said a metal ring into said groove by radial ex groove, forminga gasket groove immediately pansion, and finishing the exposed face, of 10 above said ring, and finishing the exposed said ring to provide a gasket seat of nonface of said ring to provide a gasket seat. corrodible material immediately surrounde 5 8. The method of making coupling heads, ing and extending outwardly from said which consists in undercutting the walls of port. the port extending through the body of the head to provide an annular groove, forcing i 1 I WILLIAM READ, 

